This invention relates in general to a heat treatment process and more specifically, to a process for effective seam stress release in a flexible electrostatographic imaging member belt for improved mechanical service life.
Flexible electrostatographic belt imaging members are well known in the art. Typical electrostatographic flexible belt imaging members include, for example, photoreceptors for electrophotographic imaging systems, electroreceptors such as ionographic imaging members for electrographic imaging systems, and intermediate transfer belts for transferring toner images in electrophotographic and electrographic imaging systems. These belts are usually formed by cutting a rectangular sheet from a web containing at least one layer of thermoplastic polymeric material, overlapping opposite ends of the sheet, and welding the overlapped ends together to form a welded seam. The seam extends from one edge of the belt to the opposite edge. Generally, these belts comprise at least a supporting substrate layer and at least one imaging layer comprising thermoplastic polymeric matrix material. The "imaging layer" as employed herein is defined as the dielectric imaging layer of an electroreceptor belt, the transfer layer of an intimidate transfer belt and the charge transport layer of an electrophotographic belt. Thus, the thermoplastic polymeric matrix material in the imaging layer is located in the upper portion of a cross section of an electrostatographic imaging member belt, the substrate layer being in the lower portion of the cross section of the electrostatographic imaging member belt.
Flexible electrophotographic imaging member belts are usually multilayered photoreceptors that comprise a substrate, an electrically conductive layer, an optional hole blocking layer, an adhesive layer, a charge generating layer, and a charge transport layer and, in some embodiments, an anti-curl backing layer. One type of multilayered photoreceptor comprises a layer of finely divided particles of a photoconductive inorganic compound dispersed in-an electrically insulating organic resin binder. A typical layered photoreceptor having separate charge generating (photogenerating) and charge transport layers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,990, the entire disclosure thereof being incorporated herein by reference. The charge generating layer is capable of photogenerating holes and injecting the photogenerated holes into the charge transport layer.
Although excellent toner images may be obtained with multilayered belt photoreceptors, it has been found that as more advanced, higher speed electrophotographic copiers, duplicators and printers were developed, cracking of the charge transport layer at the welded seam area was frequently encountered during photoreceptor belt cycling. Seam cracking has also been found to rapidly lead to seam delamination due to fatigue thereby shortening belt service life. Dynamic fatigue seam cracking and delamination also occurs in ionographic imaging member belts as well.
The flexible electrostatographic imaging member belt is fabricated from a sheet cut from a web. The sheets are generally rectangular in shape. All edges may be of the same length or one pair of parallel edges may be longer than the other pair of parallel edges. The sheets are formed into a belt by joining overlapping opposite marginal end regions of the sheet. A seam is typically produced in the overlapping marginal end regions at the point of joining. Joining may be effected by any suitable means. Typical joining techniques include welding (including ultrasonic), gluing, taping, pressure heat fusing, and the like. Ultrasonic welding is generally the preferred method of joining because is rapid, clean (no solvents) and produces a thin and narrow seam. In addition, ultrasonic welding is preferred because it causes generation of heat at the contiguous overlapping end marginal regions of the sheet to maximize melting of one or more layers therein.
When ultrasonically welded into a belt, the seam of multilayered imaging flexible members can crack and delaminate during extended bending and flexing over small diameter belt support rollers of an imaging machine or when subjected to lateral forces caused by rubbing contact with stationary web edge guides of a belt support module during cycling. Seam cracking and delamination is further aggravated when the belt is employed in electrostatographic imaging systems utilizing blade cleaning devices. Alteration of materials in the various photoreceptor belt layers such as the conductive layer, hole blocking layer, adhesive layer, charge generating layer, and/or charge transport layer to suppress cracking and delamination problems is not easily accomplished. The alteration of the materials may adversely affect the overall electrical, mechanical and other properties of the belt such as well as residual voltage, background, dark decay, flexibility, and the like.
For example, when a flexible imaging member in an electrophotographic machine is a photoreceptor belt fabricated by ultrasonic welding of overlapped opposite ends of a sheet, the ultrasonic energy transmitted to the overlapped ends melts the thermoplastic sheet components in the overlap region to form a seam. The ultrasonic welded seam of a multilayered photoreceptor belt is relatively brittle and low in strength and toughness. The joining techniques, particularly the welding process, can result in the formation of a splashing that projects out from either side of the seam in the overlap region of the belt. Because of the splashing, a typical flexible imaging member belt is about 1.6 times thicker in the seam region than that of the remainder of the belt (e.g., in a typical example, 188 micrometers versus 1.6 micrometers).
The photoreceptor belt in an electrophotographic imaging apparatus undergoes bending strain as the belt is cycled over a plurality of support and drive rollers. The excessive thickness of the photoreceptor belt in the seam region due to the presence of the splashing results in a large induced bending strain as the seam travels over each roller. Generally, small diameter support rollers are highly desirable for simple, reliable copy paper stripping systems in electrophotographic imaging apparatus utilizing a photoreceptor belt system operating in a very confined space. Unfortunately, small diameter rollers, e.g., less than about 0.75 inch (19 millimeters) in diameter, raise the threshold of mechanical performance criteria to such a high level that photoreceptor belt seam failure can become unacceptable for multilayered belt photoreceptors. For example, when bending over a 19 millimeter diameter roller, a typical photoreceptor belt seam splashing may develop a 0.96 percent tensile strain due to bending. This is 1.63 times greater than a 0.59 percent induced bending strain that develops within the rest of the photoreceptor belt. Therefore, the 0.96 percent tensile strain in the seam splashing region of the belt represents a 63 percent increase in stress placed upon the seam splashing region of the belt.
Under dynamic fatiguing conditions, the seam provides a focal point for stress concentration and becomes the initial point of failure in the mechanical integrity of the belt. Thus, the splashing tends to shorten the mechanical life of the seam and service life of the flexible member belt in copiers, duplicators, and printers.
Although a solution to suppress the seam cracking/delamination problems has been successfully demonstrated, as described in a prior art, by a specific heat treatment process of a flexible electrophotographic imaging member belt with its seam parked directly on top of a 19 mm diameter back support rod for stress-releasing treatment at a temperature slightly above the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the charge transport layer of the imaging member, nevertheless this seam stress release process was also found to produce various undesirable effects such as causing seam area imaging member set and development of belt ripples in the active electrophotographic imaging zones of the belt (e.g., the region beyond about 25.2 millimeters from either side from the midpoint of the seam). Moreover, the heat treatment can induce undesirable circumferential shrinkage of the imaging belt. The set in the seam area of an imaging member mechanically adversely interacts with the cleaning blade and impacts cleaning efficiency. The ripples in the imaging member belt manifest themselves as copy printout defects. Further, the heat induced imaging belt dimensional shrinkage alters the precise dimensional specifications required for the belt. Another key shortcoming associated with the prior art seam stress release heat treatment process is the extensive heat exposure of a large seam area. This extensive heat exposure heats both the seam area of the belt as well as the rod supporting the seam. Since the belt must be cooled to below the glass transition temperature of the thermoplastic material in the belt prior to removal from the support rod in order to produce the desired degree of seam stress release in each belt, the heat treatment and cooling cycle time is unduly long and leads to very high belt production costs.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for improving the mechanical characteristics of seamed flexible imaging belts which can withstand greater dynamic fatiguing conditions and extend belt service life free from any associated shortfalls.